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Eugène Décosse, born on December 9th, 1900 in Hull, Québec, had the honour of backing up
the legendary Montreal Canadiens goaltender Georges Vézina for a lone game in the 1924 season opener
against the Toronto St-Pats.
As a boy, Décosse was raised in the heart of the blue-collared
area of Hull a few streets away from the E.B. Eddy paper mills
and just around the corner from the Bank Hotel, which would
later be owned by D'arcy
Coulson. Much of this neighborhood was demolished
in the 1970's to make way for government office complexes, but
his childhood house remains intact, wedged between two parking
lots at 57 Wellington street.
Gene made his way up the Ottawa and Hull hockey ranks, playing for such teams as the Hull Canadiens,
the Ottawa Royal Canadiens and the Ottawa New Edinburghs. Gene had his first great season in 1918-19,
earning a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 0.50, managing 6 wins, 5 of which were shutouts, in his 8 appearances
for the Ottawa Royal Canadiens. The next four years saw him put in good performances with three different
teams in the OCHL, earning two First All-Star and one Second All-Star title.
In November of 1924, Gene got his chance with the NHL, joining
the reigning world champion Montreal
Canadiens at training
camp. It is unclear exactly why he and relatively average fellow
Ottawa players René Joliat and René Lafleur all
got a chance with the Habs at the same time. Signed as a free
agent, he headed to Toronto with the team to open the season
against the St-Pats, but Vézina was in fine form, and
back stopped the Habs to an easy 7 to 1 victory, leaving Gene
to warm the bench. |
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Player Facts
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NHL Games
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1 (bench)
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Goals
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0
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Assists
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0
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Born
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December 9, 1900
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Died
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January 2, 1955
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Nickname
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Gene
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Team
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Canadiens
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Stats
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